And we're off......the road!

Well after a  lovely three days on the North Portuguese coast we've had a bit of a disaster! We had a pleasant rest at Ancora, including a couple of excellent 'beach days' but decided to head back into Spain this morning (Thursday 1st June) and were almost at our chosen camp site on the coast near Foz when the van suddenly broke down!
In many ways we were lucky. We were off the motorway and at a junction which had a large, safe area where we could pull up. This was just as well as the poor old van would simply not move at all despite starting ok - the engagement of first gear produced no movement just severe juddering. I'm thinking it might be a driveshaft or gearbox problem. Two police officers were actually at the side of the road and gave us some help but it took several phone calls to our insurance people and a wait of about 90 minutes before a breakdown truck arrived. Then we did get lucky. One of the attendant mechanics spoke English, having spent some time as a waiter in London, and our friends from Tenbury Wells were already at the campsite which was only four miles away. They ascertained that the site could offer us accommodation in one of its lodges. So the breakdown truck ferried us to the campsite where we unloaded the necessary stuff from the van to enable us to set up temporary home in a wooden lodge, then they took the van off to the nearest VW garage (15km away) where it is to be assessed.
Consequently we are cosily settled but van less! We can stay here for a couple of days and our insurance will cover the costs of accommodation and recovery - we just have to hope that the repair will be reasonably straightforward. And it was all going so well!